Sailing with Viking River Cruises, I spent ten days and eleven nights in July, 2003 exploring the historical, political and spirtual core of the largest country on earth. Over the last 300 years, Moscow and St. Petersburg have each governed Russia. Today, the Kremlin in Moscow calls the shots, but there is some talk of eventually moving a few government agencies back again to St. Petersburg where Peter the Great got things going exactly 300 years ago this summer.

We spent two and a half days exploring Moscow at the beginning of our trip, and three full days enjoying the sights of St. Petersburg at the end of our visit. In between, we cruised the rivers, lakes, and canals that link the two metropolises. It is impossible to see any country in just ten days, let alone a country that spreads halfway around the world. But ten days was enough to sample the places I have always longed to see: Moscow's incredible Kremlin, the colorful towns along the Volga River, the splendid palaces and museums of St. Petersburg.

I also wanted to see for myself how Russia is making the difficult transition from 75 years of Communism to an open, democratic, capitalistic society.

We accomplished all this and more during our brief but fascinating visit.

My primary travel purpose is to turn what I see and discover into photographs. If you've viewed the previous articles I've posted on this site, you'll note that that my photographic intentions are usually focused on interpretation, rather than description. I want my pictures to express how I feel about what I see, rather than just recording what I've seen or where I've been. Aside from sharing my pictures with you on this website, I also use them as teaching aids in my Sedona workshops for photojournalists, as well as in my tutorial workshops in Phoenix for newcomers to digital photography.

These 99 impressions of this small portion of Russia were gleaned from the more than 1,000 digital images I shot on this trip. I made all but five of them with a compact Canon G5 five-megapixel digital camera. Most of these photographs were taken with a Canon .7x wideangle converter placed over my zoom lens, which provided me with the equivalent of a 24mm wideangle lens, a focal length that I feel is essential for effective travel photography. A few were made with a Canon 1.75x telephoto converter, which is the equivalent of a 245mm telephoto lens. (Only a few of these photographs were made with the G5's 35mm-140mm zoom lens.) I've edited these images with Photoshop to correct and refine the hue, color, contrast and sharpness levels, making my pictures more vibrant and meaningful. Although all of these photographs were digitally enhanced to some degree, none of the content has been digitally manipulated. The facts are all here, exactly as I captured them.

I hope you will enjoy looking at them, and I hope you leave your comments at the end of the article, or ask me any questions you might have via email.

Phil Douglis Director, The Douglis Visual Workshops, Phoenix, Arizona pnd1@cox.net